YOQ2.0U18-SUBSCALES

DESCRIPTION OF SUBSCALES

IntraDersonal Distre

The purpose of this scale is to assess the amount of emotional distress in the child/adolescent.
Anxiety, depression, fearfulness, hopelessness, and self-harm are aspects measured by the ID

subscale. Since depression and anxiety are frequently correlated in assessment instruments

(Burlingame et al., 1995) no attempt was made at differentiating these symptoms. High scores

indicate a considerable degree of emotional distress in the patient.

Somatic (S)

This scale assesses change in somatic distress that the child/adolescent may be experiencing.

Items address symptoms that are typical presentations, including headaches, dizziness,

stomachaches, nausea, bowel difficulties, and pain or weakness in joints. High scores indicate that
the patient's caregiver is aware of a large number of somatic symptoms while low scores indicate
either absence or unawareness of such symptoms.

Interoersonal Relations (IR)

The purpose of this scale is to assess issues relevant to the child's/adolescent's relationship
with parents, other adults, and peers. Assessment is made regarding their attitude towards others,
communication and interaction with friends, cooperativeness, aggressiveness, arguing, and defiance.
High scores indicate that the care giver is reporting significant interpersonal diffrculty while low
scores reflect a cooperative, pleasant interpersonal demeanor.

Critical Items (CI)

This scale describes features of children and adolescents often found in inpatient services where

short-term stabilization is the primary change sought. It assesses change in paranoia, obsessive-
compulsive behaviors, hallucination, delusions, suicide, mania, and eating disorder issues. High
scores are indicative of those who may need immediate intervention beyond standard outpatient
treatment (inpatient, day treatment or residential care). A high score on any single item should

receive serious attention by the provider.

Social Problems (SP)

This scale assesses problematic behaviors that are socially related. Many of the items describe
delinquent or aggressive behaviors that are frequently the cause for bringing a child or adolescent
into treatment. Although aggressiveness is also assessed in IR scale, aggressive content found in this
scale is of a more severe nature, typically involving the breaking of social mores. Items include
truancy, sexual problems, running away from home, destruction ofproperty, and substance abuse.
Another feature of items in this scale is that they are slow to change, whereas content tapped by
many of the other scales often changes over a period of time as a result of treatment intervention.

Behavioral Dvsfunction (BD)

This scale assesses change in the child's/adolescent's ability to organize tasks, complete

assignments, concentrate, and handle frustration, including times of inattention, hyperactivity, and

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impulsivity. Although many of the items on this scale tap features of specihc disorders (e.g.,
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) the scale is not intended to be diagnostic but rather to

track change suggested by the literature, focus groups and hospital records.

Y-OOrM Total

The total score is simply a summation of items from all six scales. It reflects total distress in a
child's/adolescent's life. Like the OQ@ 45.2 total (Lambert & Burlingame, 1996; Lambert et al.,
2000), this value tends to be the best index to track global change and has the highest reliability and
validity.

Overall the Y-OQrM is proposed as a brief screening and outcome assessment tool to track the
behavioral and subjective experience of a child or adolescent, as well as their ability to function in
society. A copy of the instrument and license agreement can be found in Appendix G.

ADMINISTRATION

The Y-OQrM. requires no instructions beyond those printed on the answer sheet. A parent or a
significant adultl figure rates each of the 64 items on a 5 point Likert scale.

It should be mentioned that parents taking this test can be affected by the attitudes of those
administering the test. It is very important that the test administrator encouage the subject to fill out

the scale in an honest and conscientious manner. Negative attitudes about the test or assessment
communicated by clinicians or others who administer the instrument might significantly affect the

results.

Time

Under usual circumstances subjects will complete the test in about seven minutes. Some

especially careful individuals may require as much as 18-20 minutes, while others may complete the
test in four to five minutes.

Scorinq

Scoring the Y-OQrM is a straightforward procedure, involving simple addition of item values. For

example, if item #1 is endorsed at a 3, the weight given #1 for both subscale and total Y-OQrM_

score is 3. Total and subscale scores are anived at by adding items that load on each.

It should be noted that there are eight negatively scored items that occur in several subscales of
the Y-OQrM. These items are #7, 16,24, 32, 45, 47,53, and 60. The negatively scored items tap
"healthy" behaviors that might be positively impacted by mental health care serices. That is,

treatment might not only attenuate negative symptoms, but also increase positive behaviors in the
child or adolescent. Accordingly, the scoring of these "healthy" behaviors is different from the rest
of the items. The following weights are associated with scale values for items J,16,24,32,45,47,
53 and 60.

Y-OQrM Response Appropriate Weisht

4 -2
J
-1

t To be referred to as AparentG for the rest ofthe text.
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